• Recap
• Bleachers

Murphy leads Rangers past Blue Jays in ninth

Aug 2, 2008 - 4:36 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Throughout the season, the Texas Rangers' efficient offense has overcome pedestrian pitching, and Friday was no different.

David Murphy delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Rangers survived shoddy efforts from rookie starter Tommy Hunter and erratic reliever C.J. Wilson to rally past the Toronto Blue Jays, 9-8.

"I've never seen anything like that happen twice in the same inning," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "We were down six but it was early. We got something going and kept chipping away. We fought. You like to see fight like that. We're a team with heart."

"I have to give credit to my teammates," Murphy said. "How difficult is it to drive in runs when you've got four All-Stars ahead of you in the lineup? I have a lot of sac flies, a lot of situations where I've driven in runs by grounding out and I've failed a lot, too. So I give those guys in front of me a lot of credit."

Ryan (2-4) issued a leadoff walk to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a single to Michael Young. Brandon Boggs followed with a two-run double and Murphy delivered his decisive hit after Marlon Byrd was intentionally walked to load the bases.

"This one is a tough loss," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "We battled hard but they came out on top. They hit .282 as a team, so the game is never over when you play them. We hit the ball well tonight but just couldn't get it closed out. I thought the bullpen pitched well. It's not often you put up eight runs and lost the ballgame. Murphy just had a great night out there."

Boggs was a late replacement for Josh Hamilton, who left in the seventh inning with lightheadedness.

Despite the comeback, the Rangers fired pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti after the game and replaced them with Andy Hawkins and Jim Colborn, respectively.

Toronto closer B.J. Ryan surrendered three runs in the ninth en route to his third blown save in 23 chances.

Wilson (2-2) earned his second win in four appearances despite allowing two runs in the top of the ninth to snap a 6-6 tie. The lefthander, who now has a 7.60 ERA in July, surrendered an RBI triple to Adam Lind and Kevin Mench followed with a run-scoring groundout to put the Blue Jays ahead.

"In the ninth, I just wanted to hit the ball squarely and on the barrel of the bat because I hadn't done so all night," Lind said.

The Rangers erased a 6-0 deficit after the fourth inning and eventually tied the score after Murphy laced an two-run double to cap a four-run fifth.

Frank Catalanotto started the rally with an RBI single and Young added a run-scoring double before Murphy's clutch hit.

The Blue Jays built their large advantage against Hunter, who was making his major league debut. The 22-year-old, who is less than 14 months removed from being the Rangers' 54th overall pick in the 2007 draft, coughed up a three-run homer to Scott Rolen in the second and a two-run shot to Lyle Overbay in the third.

"It felt good. I got the ball up a few times and I was nervous, but they came back and won the game," Hunter said. "When I was done, the manager shook my hand and said, 'We'll come back.' Then we put up four runs. At the end, I was jumping up and down like a little kid. I learned to keep the ball down, that was it."

Toronto tacked on another in the fourth before Hamilton put Texas on the board with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning.